Board agrees to hire a community service officer

A new enforcement officer will be making their presence known soon in downtown Greencastle.

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By Joshua Vaughn/The Record Herald

Waynesboro Record Herald - Waynesboro, PA

By Joshua Vaughn/The Record Herald

Posted Sep. 9, 2013 at 12:45 PM

By Joshua Vaughn/The Record Herald
Posted Sep. 9, 2013 at 12:45 PM

GREENCASTLE — A new enforcement officer will be making their presence known soon in downtown Greencastle.

At last week’s Greencastle Borough Council meeting, the board voted to approve the addition of a zoning inspector/community service officer.

About the position

The new officer will be in charge of handling ordinance violations, nuisance problems, and parking meter enforcement. According to councilman Craig Myers, who presented the idea of the new officer, this position is a way to free up time for police to more effectively handle public safety matters.

“We pay our officers well in the borough to uphold the law,” said councilman Myers. “I’m not saying the beautification of the town is not important, but weeds and things of that nature is not something that should be high on their priority.”

The part-time position will be 15 to 20 hours per week, and pay $10 an hour. Myers hopes this will help save money by having the zoning officer collect evidence for the non-emergency infractions, alleviating the need for a higher paid officer to do this leg work.

Borough manager Susan Armstrong and Greencastle police will still be in charge of issuing citations or other penalties for the violations.

Meter enforcement

The zoning officer will act as an extra parking meter enforcement officer, a point that caused councilman Harry Foley to cast the lone dissenting vote. He expressed concerns of paying two people to perform the same job functions.

“Say they don’t have a weed problem to take care of, they can go do parking meters,” Myers said, explaining the overlapping positions. “Just like in the winter they can help shovel sidewalks.”

Myers expects the position to be publicly advertised and filled by the end of the year.

Stop sign requested

In other business, two residents, Shawn and Blanca Steward, addressed the council requesting they put in a four-way stop that the intersection of South Washington Street and Leitersburg Pike.

The Stewards said they live at that intersection and expressed concerns about the safety of the junction. They said they have seen multiple accidents, including one that happened earlier in the day. Blanca said a vehicle has run into their home on at least one occasion.

The council was sympathetic to the Stewards’ concerns, but said there was very little they could do since both roads are owned by the state. According to council president Charles Eckstine, the council had spoken with the state two years ago about the intersection, but no action was taken.

Eckstine offered any assistance the borough could if the Stewards wanted to build a barrier at their own cost on their property.

Page 2 of 2 - The Stewards thanked the council and said they would take their concerns to Rep. Todd Rock, and look into moving forward with building a barrier.